Pictured above at Parliament House are (from left to right) Mayor of City of Karratha Mayor Daniel Scott, Mayor of the City of Greater Geelong Cr Trent Sullivan, Mayor of the City of Albury and RCA Chair Cr Kylie King, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Hon. Dan Tehan, Mayor of the Town of Port Hedland and RCA Deputy Chair Mayor Peter Carter, and Mayor of Griffith City Council Cr Doug Curran.
Regional Capitals Australia took regional advocacy to Parliament House, Canberra, where our board met with Government, Opposition and Departmental officials. Meetings were held with;
- The Hon. Kristy McBain, MP: Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and the Territories;
- The Hon. Dan Tehan MP: Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship;
- The Hon. Darren Chester MP Shadow Minister for Regional Education, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Shadow Minister for Local Government and Territories;
- The Office of the Hon. Peter Dutton, MP: Leader of the Opposition; and
- The Hon. Paul Fletcher MP: The Office of the Manager of Opposition Business, Shadow Minister for Science, Arts, Government Services and the Digital Economy.
The discussions covered RCA’s policy priorities, opportunities for collaboration and recognition of the role of regional capitals.
We provided an overview of RCA’s position on:
- Regional migration: specifically the need to maintain Designated Area Migration Agreements and expand the roll of working holiday visas to include hospitality and health;
- Regional aviation: specifically increasing funding for regional airports, highlighting the inequitable security arrangements and the importance of protecting regional aviation in light of both REX and Bonza airlines administration; and
- Local infrastructure: specifically having mechanisms to directly fund local government for roads and community infrastructure which is fundamental to thriving regional capital cities.
We will continue to engage with the Ministers, Shadow Ministers and officials to further our policy priorities.